“Why were you in her office?” she asks when I don’t say anything.

I don’t want to talk about Pilar. “Come here,” I say softly.

“No.” She stands her ground. “Tell me, Ryder.”

“Are you defying me?” I ask, irritated that she won’t do what I say. That I always feel the need to command her and possess her like some sort of warrior set out to conquer.

“Yes. I am.” She stares me down but she doesn’t scare me. And I don’t think I scare her, either. She knows how much I want her. Is she aware of how much I need her? “Tell me what you two talked about.”

“It was nothing, Violet,” I finally confess with a gentle sigh. “I tried to ask her a few questions about your father, but she dodged them all.”

“Really.” She sounds skeptical and I can’t blame her.

“Really,” I answer firmly. “Now come. Here.”

Reluctantly she approaches me, her teeth sunk into her lower lip. As she draws closer, I can smell her and I inhale discreetly, a surge of lust bolting through me. Fuck, I want her. Always.

“Sit down.” I turn my chair toward her and pat my thigh in invitation. She tentatively settles her ass on my leg, keeping her head bent. I lean in and smell her neck, nuzzling the soft, sensitive skin behind her ear. “Feeling a little defiant today, aren’t you?”

She keeps her head bent but doesn’t move away from me. Not that she can, with my arm wrapped firmly around her waist. “I don’t like you spending time with Pilar.”

“I don’t like it when you chat up your ex right in front of me,” I return.

“I didn’t know you were in the conference room,” she says in her defense, but her voice is weak.

Leaning in, I place my mouth at her ear and whisper, “Liar.”

She doesn’t look at me, doesn’t deny what I said, either. Proving she knew I was in that conference room the entire time she was talking to that asshole.

“You’re a bad girl, Violet. Lying to me. Trying to make me jealous.” I touch her hair, skim my finger over the shell of her ear. Her breathing shallows and finally she lifts her head, her gaze meeting mine.

“Are you?”

I frown. “Am I what?”

“Jealous?”

I scowl. She’s trying to drive me crazy and it’s working. “Do you want me to be?”

“I don’t know what I want from you.” She shrugs.

“Ah, but I think you do. And for your information, I was.” I kiss her neck, let my lips linger on her soft skin. Emotions swirl within me at having her so close. “Extremely jealous.”

“Then let’s give up this stupid charade and be done with it,” she suggests hopefully.

Sweeter words were never spoken. “Sounds good to me.” I rest my hand on her knee and give it a gentle squeeze. “Nice stockings.”

“You like them?” She sounds hopeful, and I wonder if she wore them just for me.

“Not your usual style. I thought I preferred your legs bare. Easy access, you know.” I slip my hand up her thigh, the silky feel of her stockings adding a sensual friction I can definitely appreciate. Her breath catches, making me smile. “But these are very interesting.”

“I’m glad you approve,” she says as my hand slips beneath her skirt, feeling the bare skin of her naked upper thigh.

“Thigh highs?” I push her skirt up to reveal that indeed, she’s wearing thigh-high stockings. I trace the wide band of lace, my finger coming perilously close to the front of her black panties. “Little hooks and a garter belt probably would’ve done me in, though.”

Her cheeks flush pink. “I’ll remember that for next time.”

She fidgets on my lap, making me fucking hard, and I clamp my arm tight around her waist, trying to keep her in place. “That I can still make you blush after everything we’ve done together blows my mind.” I slide my hand over the front of her panties and discover they’re soaked. No surprise.

Her hips lift, a subtle indication that she wants more, and I oblige, slipping my fingers beneath her panties and rubbing against her. “You like that?”

She nods and sinks her teeth into her lower lip again.

I shift lower, plunging into her drenched folds, inserting my index finger inside her body. “Feels so good you can’t speak?”

She nods again, her eyes sliding closed when I start to fuck her with my finger in earnest. I press my forehead to the side of her head, my mouth at her ear, and I watch my hand move beneath the black lace of her panties. It looks hot. Forbidden. The way she’s moving with me, the sound of my fingers working her creamy pussy, her quickening breaths …

“You’re close, aren’t you.” I bite her earlobe and she squeals. “Say it.”

“I-I’m close.”

“Beg me to make you come.” I stop moving my hand.

“Please.” She whimpers when I flick her clit with my thumb. She’s a pro at this now. I’ve made her beg me to let her come time and again. “Please, Ryder. I need you. Make me come.”

“I’m going to fuck you on my desk,” I whisper in her ear as I slowly, deliberately start to thrust my fingers within her body again. “Would you like that?”

“Yesss,” she hisses.

“I don’t have any condoms, though.” My hand stills and so does she as her gaze meets mine. “Are you …”